As artificial intelligence transforms news production, social media turns ordinary citizens into instant publishers, and misinformation spreads faster than ever before, a fundamental question confronts journalism schools across Africa and beyond: Does studying journalism at university still matter?
AJEnda sought the views of three journalism students and one who has recently graduated.
One of them, Chriselda Lewis, is a BA (Honours) mid-career student at the Wits Centre for Journalism (WCJ), at the University of Witwatersrand. She gave a candid Q&A interview about her journey from a child TV presenter to a senior reporter and news anchor at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and discussed her reasons for going back to journalism school despite her flourishing career at the public broadcaster.
And rather than making journalism education obsolete, WCJ students Keletso Zwane and Jamie Ho, as well as Rejoice Kambarami, who recently finished her journalism degree at Midlands State University, argue that technological disruption has made professional training more valuable than ever.